Grilled Salmon with Olives over Italian Couscous Salad

The weather was gorgeous yesterday and I had a friend coming over for dinner. She and I both like fish but were not in the habit of cooking it because neither of our significant others would eat it. While pondering what should be on the menu, I realized that we don’t have to worry about what our significant others eat anymore… since they are now our ex-significant others. 🙂 Aha, I decided — fish it is!

I tend to default to salmon so I went to the market with the intent of maybe trying something new. I surveyed some halibut and took a gander at the mahi mahi but ultimately the fishmonger convinced me salmon was the way to go. I had some staples at the house that I thought I could whip up with it to make a decent little dish.

Now, my intent was to fire up my neglected Green Egg, pull out some maple planks I had in my grillin’ kit, and try my hand at plank cooking for the first time. Unfortunately, I failed to check out all of my equipment early in the day and, when game time rolled around, I realized my planks had been exposed to moisture somehow and had mildew spots. I was betting that mildew would not complement the salmon, so I tossed them in the woodpile and decided to go with a super simple grilled salmon recipe courtesy of a fellow foodie named Mike.

Easy Grilled Salmon

Rinse salmon, pat dry, and return to refrigerator uncovered to dry a bit. Pull out a nice sized piece of heavy duty aluminum foil (just a bit bigger than your salmon) and coat it with cooking spray. Place the salmon skin side down and on the foil and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle salt, ground pepper, onion powder and garlic powder on top.

This was taken with my iPhone since I had also forgotten to charge my camera.

Heat your grill up on high to 400 degrees and then adjust down to maintain that temperature. Place foil with salmon directly on the grill and check after 10 minutes. Cooking time should be somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes. Remove when it looks and feels done (flaky on the edges but still a bit moist in the center) and let it rest for 5 minutes before plating it up. When ready, just run a knife underneath to separate the skin and cut into individual portion sizes. While the salmon cooks and rests, you can whip up your…

Italian Couscous Salad (Serves 6)

Boil 2 cups of pearl (also called Israeli) couscous as directed on packaging. Here’s what it looks like in the store…

While couscous is still hot, add one cup each chopped sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts (both packed in oil and drained.) Stir in 1/3-cup pine nuts and 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese. Season with 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, salt, and ground pepper. Taste and adjust any of the mix-ins until you are happy.

Darn the blurriness!

Put a big scoop of couscous salad on each plate, top with a serving of grilled salmon, and spread a little olive salad on top like so…

I gotta say, it turned out pretty well — better than many a salmon dish I have been served in restaurants. Better yet, I flaked the leftover salmon, added it to the leftover couscous salad, and had some most excellent lunches to take to work this week.

Easy, quick, and pretty healthy to boot — give it a spin, y’all.